


It's getting smaller, would you take me out?

by gravityfall



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: How Do I Tag, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Panic Attacks, Peter Parker Feels, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 17:30:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17791700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gravityfall/pseuds/gravityfall
Summary: It was a routine battle against your typical psycho who thought he could dominate the world with impossible plans that were always ruined by people like the Avengers and Peter himself.The only problem with those people was that they generated enough chaos to create problems. Like tear down buildings in confident teenagers.





	It's getting smaller, would you take me out?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shooting_star_73](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shooting_star_73/gifts).



> I owed you one of those... @anonimo_black0 so here you have sweetie, hope you like it!

Peter wasn't feeling warm when he woke up.

Well, technically, he was literally sweating enough to create a small ocean, it seemed. But besides that, he kept breathing in dust and other mysterious things. He couldn't really feel his legs or his left arm, and his head was throbbing out a steady rhythm. And that wasn't even the worst part.

He closed his eyes, trying to keep all the anxious thoughts away, but opening them again and seeing a concrete wall two inches from your face, and five inches on the right and six on your right wasn't reassuring

'Don't panic', Peter told himself sternly. His breaths quickened, and he fought down his mounting terror. 'What happened?'

All arrived way too soon and Peter remembered what buried him under a building.

It was a routine battle against your typical psycho who thought he could take over the world with a few dreamt-about impossible plans that were always screwed up by people like the Avengers and Peter himself. The only problem with those psychos was that they created just enough manic activity to make trouble. Like collapsing buildings on confident teenagers.

Peter concentrated more on breathing and less on ignoring the pain in his left thigh. Something stuck in his leg when the building collapsed with him still inside.

He couldn't see anything. The sun didn't arrive there; there was nothing but a wall of solid darkness.

'Now think, Parker. Will communications work?' It was hard to hear anything, there was still an annoying beeping due to the great effort the building made when it collapsed.

He closed his eyes, trying not to think about what was happening, but then he opened them again and all he saw was a concrete wall two inches from his face. And five to the left. And six on the right side.

'Don't panic', Peter told himself sternly. His breathing quickened, and he fought against his growing terror. "Think, what happened?'

Everything arrived too fast. Peter remembered what had buried him under a fucking building.

It was a routine battle against your typical psycho who thought he could dominate the world with impossible plans that were always ruined by people like the Avengers and Peter himself. The only problem with those people was that they generated enough chaos to create problems. Like tear down buildings in confident teenagers.

Peter couldn't even remember the name of the stupid guy, who had obviously worked out his plan in his parents' basement or something like that. 'That guy was a total psychopath,' he thought, and that was saying something because Peter didn't call people psychopaths just for fun, (you had to win the title). He had collapsed a building on him, for god's sake, although he didn't remember very well how. Actually, that worried him a bit, because wasn't that a sign of having a concussion? He couldn't remember that either.

He remembered that they heard the news about the man on television, Peter was going to avoid him to completely ruining New York. He wasn't exactly sure why all the bad guys chose New York as a place to start their master plan that always consisted on taking over the world, he even wished that it was in Russia or something. The Russians could totally defeat the bad guys as the Avengers did. Or so Peter thought.

Anyway, they came quickly to stop the guy ('Was him called Blue Beard or something?' Peter remembered that it sounded like some pirate's name) before he could get his hands on something important like a building. It was supposed to be a simple mission, stop and arrest, but as usual, things quickly got out of control. The news obviously didn't give them all the information about the situation; Peter caught everything he could, but it wasn't enough, it wasn't the kind of thing you could predict.

Halfway through the chase, Captain Psychotic, Peter's nickname for the pirate-looking guy, suddenly turned around and laughed. It wasn't a giggle or a good-humored laugh either. No, it sounded like the kind of laugh that came from a person who was about to break of hysteria. Confused, Peter and the Avengers stood near the guy, ready to jump on him as soon as they saw the occasion.

"You have no idea!" The man gasped, still laughing hysterically, his cape flapping around him manically. "You have no idea what's going to happen, do you?"

"What are you talking about?" Tony asked. "You finally snapped, haven't you?"

The man sighed and wiped a tear from his eye, still smiling. Peter had a bad feeling about what was going on here. Had this guy somehow managed to wreak more havoc somewhere they didn't know about? 

"Perhaps your television haven't told you. In a building near here, there are ten poor little children sitting all by their lonesome singing campfire songs around a bomb armed with enough explosives to take out the entire building. I doubt you'll be able to get there in time." The man began laughing again as Peter felt like he was going to be sick. "Wait until your petty admirers see that their heroes can't save everyone. They'll really love you then!" he crowed.

"When will it go off?" Steve demanded.

"Oh, I suppose you'll know when it goes off," the man said delightedly. Then he leaned in to smile at them dangerously and evilly, it seemed to Peter. "I want to see you search and fail. I want to hear your cries of outrage and despair when the bomb blows two buildings down from where you were searching and know how close you were. I want you to fail," he spat.

Steve punched the man square in the face, effectively knocking him out. Steve turned to all of them, his face panicked. "Okay, split up. Each of us gets a building, and you call immediately for backup as soon as you find the kids. Move quickly, people, we don't know when the bomb will go off. We have to save those kids." They all gave their affirmative, spreading out along the street to begin searching.

After five minutes, Peter got desperate after not finding anything. He tried to think—what would allow him to search the buildings quicker but still as thoroughly? He wracked his brains for a moment and finally came up with an idea. 

"Karen, check the thermal signals of the nearest buildings, tell me if you notice the children or something unusual."

"On it, Peter"

What if Captain Psychotic was right? What if Peter and the others didn't find the kids in time? He didn't think he would be able to forgive himself, ever. He wouldn't stand for ten families being ripped apart because of one guy who had a personal vendetta against the Avengers.

He couldn't let that happen. He wouldn't let that happen.

"Peter, I found three buildings under the description."

He wanted to make sure he had really found them before calling the Avengers in case he was wrong about it being the children and he ended up taking away from time looking for the kids. 

There was nothing in the first building. He went swinging quickly until the next. After another three minutes of searching, he finally found it.  
He ran into and went to the third floor. It was where Karen told him that the heat signals were, bounce off office after office, all empty, frantically searching for the children. Just as he was about to give up, he heard whispers in the only room he didn't look. He opened the door and immediately came face to face with ten children. 

Peter guessed they must have been anywhere from four to seven years old. He shook his head in anger when he saw they were all zip-tied together to keep them from moving. There was no bomb in sight.

"Hey, guys," Peter said, trying to sound friendly and calm. "Hey, I'm going to release you, okay?" Peter moved closer but stopped when some of the children leaned back scared. He considered taking off his mask, but he couldn't let anyone know who he was. That would completely crush the purpose of wearing it. But his resolution was strengthened when he saw that most of the children had tears on their faces and he decided, screw it.

He took off his mask, tossed it aside and smiled. "Better now?" A little girl nodded, and Peter thought that was the only confirmation he was going to get and decided to accept it. Also, time was running out. 

"Do you know who I am? Do you know who Spiderman is?" He asked while the children nodded. "So you know that you can trust me, no?" The children nodded again.

'Then why did I have to take off my mask?' He ignored his thoughts and went over to cut the ties.

He finished with the rest before all the children got up and he knelt to his level. "Okay, I have a very important question." They looked at him curiously. "The man who put you here, did he say anything about a bomb?"

A boy of about five nodded. Peter sighed in relief. "I need to know where he put it. What's your name, buddy?"

"Hugo," he said softly. "He said he was gonna put it on the first floor." The boy sniffled. "And then he said he was gonna hide another one for a surprise."

Peter cursed under his breath. That was so not good. "Okay, here's what we're going to do, guys. We're going walk downstairs outside and then you're going to meet the Avengers! And then you're going to hang out with them for a little while until we can get you back to your mommy and daddy, okay?" He smiled at them reassuringly before herding them towards the stairs. 

Peter wasn't sure why the Avengers were taking so long when he heard a loud boom. He flinched, thinking it was the one in the building before he realized the building didn't shake or crumble in on itself. It had been a different building. He pressed his hand to his ear as his group slowly made their way down the stairs. "Guys? Update? Where are you?" He stooped down to pick up a particularly young-looking girl that was lagging and exhausted. He bounced her on his hip once before finally getting a reply.

"Since you commed us, smoke has been pouring in the street," Steve's tinny voice sounded over Peter's earpiece. "We can't see a thing it's so thick. And apparently there was another bomb somewhere else and we had to send Clint and Natasha to check for civilians. But we're trying to get there as fast as we can." Peter wanted to hit his head against the nearest wall. The mission had definitely gotten out of hand.

"Okay," Peter managed to say evenly. He continued making his way downstairs. By then, smoke was starting to snake its way into the building, causing them all to cough slightly. Peter told Karen to search any signals in the building, trying to multitask and find both bombs while rescuing the kids. He heard another bomb go off in the distance and pushed the kids faster until they finally reached the first floor. Peter jumped the lasts steps and froze.

There, sitting innocently in the middle of the floor slightly before the door, was one of the bombs. And it had four seconds left on its clock.

Peter thought quickly, dismissing ironic thoughts. He fired a web to the door and opened it, hooked other webs to the building across the street to secure the children.

Three.

He pushed them out of the building, making sure they were protected, far enough so the explosion wouldn't reach them.

Two.

He wrapped the bomb in a web and turned back, covering his head.

One.

Now would be a good time for a helmet, he thought bitterly before the bomb exploded and his vision went dark.

::

Thinking back on it, Peter figured the other bomb had gone off, having been set off by the explosion of the first. He didn't think it was the first bomb that had caused most of the damage since he was pretty sure he had contained the majority of it. To cause that much damage, the second bomb had to have been on the first floor, too. Because for what other reason would be he trapped under a building with ruins poking in all the wrong places? 

Peter dropped his head against the ground again. He hoped the kids were all right. He hoped he took them far enough to keep them safe. He was exhausted, so he could only think with optimism. He heard a few cranes and wondered idly if they were trying to get him out.

Which brought him back to his current dilemma: he was trapped. Under a building. In a very tiny space.

Peter could already feel himself hyperventilating again. He hated tiny places with a passion, and it had seemed like the claustrophobia had only gotten worse over the years, especially after the Homecoming Incident. Peter shook his head and tried to calm his breathing with a few techniques he had learned from his numerous nightmares. Only it didn't work. Maybe it was because that nightmare was real, and it wasn't going anywhere.

Peter pressed on his earpiece and got static. "I don't suppose anyone can hear me?" he asked desperately before coughing on some dust. "No, of course not," he muttered. "Because that would be too easy."

He got the sudden urge that he to move right now. He struggled to get an arm or a leg free uselessly until it hurt. He kept wiggling his right arm until he finally yanked it free. It was covered in bloody scratches from where he had frantically pulled it out. The static suddenly got louder in his ear, and he reached up to pull it out in frustration.

"-need you to say...talk or something-" Peter heard over the comm, freezing immediately when he heard it. He pressed at the comm. again. "Mister Stark?" he asked, crossing his fingers with his one free hand.

Another burst of static before, "Peter?"

Peter smiled in relief, focusing on Tony's voice to distract himself from the collapsed concrete that seemed to be closing on him. "Yes, thank god someone's here," Peter said. He was sure his voice was a little higher than usual, but he didn't car right now.

Peter heard Tony talking to someone else over the comm. "Yeah, I finally got him. He's coherent enough to talk to me. Okay, I will" The comm got clearer and clearer as the seconds passed. "Peter, we're going to go after you, hold on". 

"What a-about the kids?" Peter asked anxiously. "Are they all o-okay?"

"Safe and sound," Tony confirmed. "And about to be reunited with their families. Thanks to you. How'd you manage?"

"It's kind o-of a long story. You pro-probably need to get back to focusing on the mission," Peter said reluctantly. He really didn't want to be left alone in the small area, but he didn't want Tony to hurt himself being distracted by Peter either.

"Nonsense," Tony dismissed. "I'm great at multitasking. Besides, I'm the only one you can talk to right now since the others can't connect to your comm. like I figured out how to. So, story time while I lift a few tons on concrete?"

Peter was glad in the long run he still had someone to talk to because it gave his mind something else to think about other than the crushing concrete on him, slowly seeming to suffocate him. 

The weight on Peter was changing, moving. A cold metal glove burst loudly through the rubble and he crouched down, brushing his bloody back. A muffled, terrified sound leaped from Peter's throat.

"We're there, okay?" Tony assured. "Stay awake, bud-"

Peter was barely conscious, and couldn't remain conscious for much longer. He was so tired.

More noise the sound of scraped metal against metal and the cracking of concrete. The pressure against Peter's limbs eased and then the sunlight entered, the glow hurting his eyes even behind his closed eyelids. He was vaguely away from being moved, up, people talking to him; he was too far away to understand what was happening.

One large piece of concrete was carefully lifted from him, and then another, and then another until he was lying there free. He breathed deeply and clenched his hands into loose fists to hide their shaking. Tony and the others came and stood over him for a moment before kneeling down.

Peter didn't remember anything immediately after he was taken out of the dark hole. He woke up later, enough to open his eyes and look around, he was on a stretcher.

He fell asleep. There were a lot of people running around him.

::

"I didn't know you were claustrophobic".

Oh no. Oh no, no.

"It's that obvious?"

"Just a little, I heard you have a panic attack, at first I just thought you only twisted your ankle and you were breathing hard, not having a panic attack I didn't think that."

Tony smiled, small and sad, swallowed and managed a somber: "I'm so sorry." He said in a low voice, without attracting the attention of other people. Peter blinked at him.

"W-what?" He asked surprised, Peter's mouth was too dry to make a sound, Tony take his hands to his head in an anxious move.

"You didn't ask for help, I didn't realize you were under a building until Cap told me, I should have paid more attention".

Peter shook his head again, this time with more energy. The movement hurt, but he ignored it. No way he would let Tony take that on himself. It was all Peter.

"I'm sorry," said Peter.

Tony rubbed his temple.

"Now seriously, Peter, if you're in danger or hurt, call someone, please".

Before he could reproach, Tony cut him off, "it's not worth what you've done before, you called me, yes, but you didn't tell me you had a fucking building on you, that's not how communication works," he finished in a low voice.

"You need to trust more, ask for help." Peter hated the loos he was receiving, also that Tony Stark was telling him to trust him, to trust the Avengers in general.

But it wasn't so easy, he couldn't bear to have to be saved by the Avengers, because how would they take him seriously if he needed to call them to pick him when he gets hurt? Like if he were a baby.

Tony seemed to guess Peter's thoughts and said with a soft smile, "even the best of us need help sometimes, that doesn't make you weak."

'Even the best of us' he thought. He supposed that it wouldn't hurt him get a little help when he stumbled.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if this has turned okay or not, I only now that I couldn't decide if I should publish it because I wasn't really convinced about it, but... here it is!
> 
> [ My tumblr!! ](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/tinyspidy)


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